Boehner touted a letter he sent to the president Sunday that urges deep and immediate cuts. The letter was signed by 150 economists, who also urged quick action to reduce the deficit.

The Speaker defended the billions of dollars in spending cuts House Republicans are set to push this week, hitting back against Democratic criticism that the cuts are dangerously steep.

"We're broke," said Boehner. "What's really dangerous is if we continue to do nothing and allow the status quo to stay in place."

Boehner said Republicans are delivering on their campaign pledge to cut $100 billion in spending, but called it just a start.

"While we believe we've met our committments that we made in the pledge to America, I've said there's no limit to the amount of money that our members want to cut," Boehner said.

Last week, the GOP leadership put forth a new plan to cut billions in additional spending after Tea Party-backed freshmen members said the initial proposed cuts weren't nearly enough. The new continuing resolution would fund the government for the final seven months of the fiscal year once the current CR expires in March.

"Our goal here is to reduce spending," said Boehner. "Our goal is not to shut down the government."

Pressed on whether or not that means Boehner would completely rule out a government shutdown if Republicans and Democrats reach an impasse, he simply repeated, "Our goal is to reduce spending, it is not to shut down the government."

Democrats quickly jumped on that comment Sunday, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee blasting out a release warning that Boehner "refuses to rule out a government shutdown."

As for the GOP's own budget proposal, Boehner pledged that when House Republicans unveil it, there will be cuts to entitlement programs.

"This is the first step and as I've said, there are many steps to follow," said Boehner. "You'll see our budget, where I gotta believe, we're going to deal with the entitlement problem."